


Steele a Man's World?

by NorahBolt56



Category: Remington Steele (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-21
Updated: 2017-08-21
Packaged: 2018-12-18 00:47:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11863140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NorahBolt56/pseuds/NorahBolt56
Summary: The fic was written as part of a fanfic challenge and poses the question what if Remington and Laura's roles were reversed?





	Steele a Man's World?

“You have no idea what it’s like to be a woman Mr Steele!” Laura threw at him. “Well no but..” he went to interrupt Miss Holt’s latest tirade on the plight of womankind, brought on by another client dismissing her as a mere secretary or assistant while giving him all the credit for solving their latest case.

“But what?” she cut him off angrily. “Despite all my years of study and hard work just because I’m not a man, everyone assumes you’re the one who solves all the cases, who does all the legwork, who..”

“Hang on a minute Laura – you invented me remember, so you could get those cases in the first place,” Mr Steele interjected, his anger rising a little to meet hers.

She glared at him a little – she hated it when he was right. “That’s not the point,” she huffed. “How would you like it if you did all the work and I took all the bows huh?”

“Well I guess I wouldn’t like it that much,” he conceded.

“Damn right you wouldn’t!” Laura agreed. “Can you imagine it?” and as she said that Remington found himself imagining what life would be like if their roles were indeed reversed…

 

Remington sat at his desk in his office in the detective agency he had founded but which did not bear his name. The sign on the agency door read “Laura Holt Investigations” – a name he had invented. He’d always loved excitement and adventure so he’d studied and apprenticed and put his name on an office but absolutely no-one had knocked down his door. A male private investigator seemed so... masculine. So he had invented a superior, a decidedly feminine superior and suddenly there were cases around the block. He’d tossed a few names around before deciding on the one he finally chose. Myrtle Groggins? No that sounded like an old school marm.  Tracey Lord? No, too ’shimmery’. Norah Bolt? No, that didn’t sound right either but it did have a certain ring to it. He wanted a name that sounded feminine yet strong – and as he said the name ‘Norah Bolt’ aloud again it came to him – Laura Holt. And so Laura Holt Investigations was born.

It had been difficult at first keeping up the ruse of having a fictitious boss but somehow he and his partner Bernice Fox managed to pull it off. He’d met Bernice at the Havenhurst Detective Agency where he’d apprenticed as a private investigator. He’d stayed there for a few years and risen up the ranks but he felt the head of the agency, Alana, had never really taken him seriously because he was a man. And he was fairly certain his female counterparts got paid more than he did even though they did the same work, or in Remington’s case, twice as much to prove himself. So when he’d first got the idea to open up his own agency he’s convinced Bernice, who he’d become good friends with, to come with him. The two of them, along with the agency secretary Murphy, had managed to keep the secret between the three of them, that is until the day she walked in.. with her brown eyes and mysterious past and before he knew it she had found out his secret and assumed the identity of Laura Holt..

He recalled the day she’d walked into the agency office, saying she was Special Agent Brenda Pearson, and was there to ensure the security of the Royal Lavulite gems the agency had been hired to protect. She had taken his breath away and he remembered grinning at Murphy as they both checked her out. She’d assumed Bernice was the head of the agency, ‘Laura Holt’, and that he was just another secretary. It was a woman’s world after all, he remembered thinking ruefully at the time. He had corrected her, informing her with a great deal of righteous indignation that he was in fact a licensed private investigator.

He then recalled how at the restaurant he’d gone to that night she’d bought him a magnum of champagne. He’d tried to remain cool as he spied her walking towards his table – dressed in an elegant suit – she was simply stunning. He remembered how those gorgeous brown eyes of hers had twinkled at him as she asked him how long he’d been a dick for. He didn’t know whether she was coming onto him or insulting him, but he’d secretly hoped the former. The chemistry between them had been electrifying – she did something to him that no other woman had ever had.

But then he and Bernice had discovered while searching her hotel room that ‘Brenda Pearson’ was not all she appeared to be. They had found five different passports in her luggage – _Michaela O’Leary – Ireland, Paula Fabrini -Italy, Joan Morell – France, Donna Quintaine – England & Rachel Blaine – Australia._ Who was this mystery woman and where had she come from? he had wondered to himself.

And then he remembered how their client had mistakenly taken the mysterious ‘Brenda Pearson’ to be Laura Holt, much to Remington’s chagrin. He had boiled with rage when she had got up when the client publicly thanked ‘Laura Holt’ and she took the credit and applause that should have been his. But he also couldn’t help remembering how her body had felt pressed up against his when she’d pulled him onto the dance floor – he couldn’t tear his eyes off her in that delectable red gown she’d been wearing.

He had to admit she had made a wonderful Laura Holt and he had told her as much, even though it had become evident that she was a thief and a con-artist. Bernice had taken an instant dislike to her – she didn’t trust her at all and had told him so. But there was just something about her – yes he was attracted to her but he also felt there was more to ‘Brenda Pearson’ than met the eye.

And then he’d been rather delighted when instead of her going to San Francisco, he’d come into the office a couple of days later to find her sitting in ‘the boss’s’ office, charming the client who had just arrived. And so they’d come to an arrangement – she would adopt the persona of Laura Holt, thus providing the agency with a face for the name. And what a face it was, he found himself musing – those sparkling brown eyes, the dimpled smile – it was a wonder he ever got any work done!

He recalled not long after that, Murphy had busted him one day gazing longingly at a photo of her as he wondered to himself “Who are you?’

“Don’t you get enough of the real thing buddy?” Murphy had chuckled as he nodded at the photo. Remington had tried to cover up but his good mate Murphy had seen right through him. “You’re here, she’s here – I say go for it,” he’d encouraged him.

And although Remington was very tempted and Miss Holt as he now called her (never Laura – that seemed far too intimate) had certainly made her intentions clear in that regard, he didn’t just want to hop into bed with her. Because he feared that was all she was interested in – his body rather than his brains. How many times had he been ogled by female clients or even got his ass pinched by them? A few had even propositioned him which he had always politely declined while he silently fumed. He was the brains of this operation but oh no, when they looked at a man all they saw was just flesh.

So as hard as it was (and it was sometimes very hard, he thought to himself with a rueful grin) he hadn’t yet ‘crossed that line’ with her. Oh they’d kissed and indulged in a few caresses here and there but nothing more. When he felt himself getting aroused he’d always pull away. He’d been hurt in the past – Felicia, Anna , to name a few and he didn’t know what he’d do if Miss Holt left him as well. So they had a rule not to ‘mix business with pleasure’, although it wasn’t a hard and fast rule he had to admit, and with each passing day he found it harder and harder to stick to. Even when they fought (as they often did) she did something to him he couldn’t explain.

He couldn’t help but get frustrated by her behavior sometimes – she would rock up to the agency whenever she damn well pleased, her aversion to legwork was amazing, and she was a whizz at racking up charges on the agency’s accounts. But then he had to admit, she was also very good at what she did – charming the clients and more than he’d like to admit, himself as well. One look into those big brown eyes of hers or whenever he heard her lilting voice was enough to reduce him to jelly sometimes. Icy calm Steele, he’d had to tell himself on more than one occasion when he felt her getting to him.

And so he put up with the frustration of him doing all the work and her taking the bows – it seemed to work and as long as people bought it he could get the job done. But sometimes he wondered how nice it would be if it were the other way around..

“Mr Steele?’ Laura’s voice interrupted his thoughts, bringing him back to reality. “Did you just hear anything I said?” she demanded.

“Loud and clear Miss Holt, loud and clear,” Remington replied as he picked up the phone.

“What are you doing?” she asked, somewhat perplexed.

“I’m calling that last client to set them straight on who actually solved the case Laura – credit where it’s due eh?” he replied with a lopsided grin as she smiled back at him, somewhat pleasantly surprised..

 


End file.
